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Interest-group lobbying is a controversial activity in American politics and this book provides a study of group power. This edition includes expanded coverage of the changing dynamics of power politics in America; new media venues and grassroots organizing; and the perennial issue of reform.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Foreword -- Preface -- Note on Personal Names -- PART ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE JAPANESE PARTY SYSTEM -- 1 The Changing Postwar Party System -- 2 Rules of the Game: The Impact of the Electoral System on Political Parties -- 3 The Money Base of Japanese Politics -- PART TWO THE PARTIES OF THE LEFT -- 4 The Japan Socialist Party: A Politics of Permanent Opposition -- 5 The Japan Communist Party: The "Lovable" Party -- PART THREE THE PARTIES OF THE CENTER -- 6 The Kōmeitō: Party of "Buddhist Democracy -- 7 The Democratic Socialist Party: Enigma of the Center -- 8 Political Party Proliferation: The New Liberal Club and the Mini-Parties -- PART FOUR THE RULING PARTY OF JAPAN AND ITS FUTURE -- 9 The Liberal Democratic Party: The Ruling Party of Japan -- 10 The Changing Party System in the 1980s: From One-Party Rule Toward an Era of Coalition Government -- 11 The 1986 General Elections -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- About the Author and Contributors -- Index.

Over the past five decades, a variety of explanations has been advanced by Japanese and western scholars for the LDP's continued dominance: the bias of the various aspects of the Japanese election system, including the previously used multiple-member House of Representatives districts and the current mix of single-member districts and proportional representation; the very restrictive rules that govern Japanese political campaigns; the ineffectual Japanese campaign finance laws; and the malapportionment of both houses of the Japanese Diet. However, in addition to these explanations, Scheiner notes that the opposition parties have had trouble finding good candidates to run in Diet elections; the LDP has been very skillful in utilizing the resources of the state to wed various interest groups in Japan to the LDP; and the opposition parties over and over again have not been able to present themselves and their leaders as attractive alternatives to LDP rule.